Walur (Amorphophallus variabilis)

Walur (Amorphophallus variabilis) is a plant species in Araceae, herbaceous with tubers, reproducing vegetatively and generatively, small tubers and itching in the mouth which people do not want to eat unless forced to, grows wild but is often cultivated in yards when there is famine.

A. variabilis with a vegetative part having a height of 0.3-1.5 meters, having a green or brown or purplish or black color with bright green or dark green or black or white stripes.

Leaves with 1-2 strands and stalk 10-100 cm long. The leaf blade is 15-100 cm long, has three parts, each part is further divided in elongated or lanceolate with a tapered tip or tail-like.

Flowers appear when the vegetative organs wither and grow in an independent cob. Stalks long and slender for 2-100 cm and often with rough pimples. Base with some protective leaves.

The female flowers sit starting at the base and are green. The male flowers are yellow, twice as long as the female part, the sterile part is twice as long as the female part with the male, often grooved or flattened and yellow or purple in color.

The flower is triangular elongated with a pointed tip. The ear is 6-46 cm long and 1-5 cm wide. The top of the cob is elongated. The fruit is crowded, red-orange and has 1-2 seeds.

Tubers are yellow and itchy in the mouth when eaten. The tubers produce shoots that can be separated. In times of famine, the tubers are sliced into small pieces and then boiled for eating. The tubers are also grated or ground and cooked in banana leaves.

Leaves, petioles, fruit and fruit cobs are cooked as vegetables. Leaves as food for fish in ponds. Tubers are rich in mannan, a carbohydrate that can be made into konnyaku.

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Alismatales
Family: Araceae
Subfamily: Aroideae
Tribe: Thomsonieae
Genus: Amorphophallus
Species: Amorphophallus variabilis

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